New York stops estate agents showing homes to buyers and renters

The New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has barred brokers from showing homes, as part of a sweeping ban on activities that risk spreading the coronavirus.

At a press conference Friday, Cuomo announced an executive order mandating all employees of non-essential businesses to stay home from work.

The list of essential jobs includes food delivery, doormen and some construction.

It does not include real estate brokers.

The order requires non-essential businesses reduce its in-person workforce by 75 percent by Saturday and by 100 percent by Sunday.

The Real Deal website reported when Cuomo discussed the 90-day ban on evictions, he said, “I don’t know who you think you’re going to rent an apartment to now, anyway, if you kick someone out.

"By my mandate, you couldn’t even have your real estate agent out showing the apartment.”

Across the other side of America, parts of California’s real estate industry are grinding to a halt because of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “stay at home” order.

An auspicious beginning of 2020 for L.A.’s top residential brokerages that included record-setting sales has ground to a halt.

The 15,000 L.A.-based realtors represented in the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) had been hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

But the governor’s office amended his emergency order to designate housing construction as an “essential business” because of the state’s ongoing housing shortage.